Irrfan Khan was born in Jaipur, to a Muslim family. Khan's mother, Begum, was from the Tonk Hakim family, and his father, the late Jagirdar, was from the Khajuriya village near the Tonk district, and ran a tyre business. Khan was studying for his MA degree, when he earned a scholarship to study at National School of Drama (NSD) in New Delhi in 1984.